


A Study in Colour

by beforeyoustartyourday



Category: Sherlock (TV)
Genre: Drug Withdrawal, Sherlock Plays the Violin, Sherlock has synesthesia, Sherlock was addicted to heroin, Synesthesia
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-12-13
Updated: 2016-12-13
Packaged: 2018-09-08 10:28:43
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 300
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8841079
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/beforeyoustartyourday/pseuds/beforeyoustartyourday
Summary: Colours distracted Sherlock.This is just a thing I wrote because my thoughts were everywhere. I do not have synesthesia, nor have I taken heroin or know anybody who has.





	

The rich sound of Sherlock's violin sounded throughout the apartment. 

_Blue,_ Sherlock saw. And he noted it in his composing book.

At times like these, there were only three things that could possibly distract Sherlock from the starting effects of withdrawal: sleeping medication, an interesting case or the colours produced by music. 

John had only let Sherlock take the prescribed amount of sleeping pills out of fear that Sherlock would try to compensate by overdosing on said pills, and he was most likely asleep. The pills had only provided him with a precious three hours of sleep, so he was stuck with violin. 

A particularly complicated series of notes left him overwhelmed by the irritation in the red, the neon feeling and in the green. 

_Breathe,_ he thought. _John is sleeping. He needs it._

It was almost frightening, the way that music could put lull him into almost the same kind of trance as drugs but then turn into a ravenous monster. 

Pale, soothing green. Liquid sound. Waves that pulsed and flowed around the room. 

The next sound produced a colour akin to the unremarkable but troubled blue tones in John's irises.

And then John was there, and Sherlock stopped playing, and the sky outside was dreary but bits of leftover blue drifted through it. 

"Sherlock?" came the tentative voice. 

Sherlock flipped the page and started playing a different song.

It tasted like yellow and he saw green. 

"Pachelbel's... Canon in D?" John asked. 

"Yes," was the answer. 

The way John reacted to it made Sherlock assume that it had pulled a memory from his brain. 

"You heard it at your parents' wedding," he stated. 

"Yeah." John was past surprise at this point. 

Deductions were not enough. 

There were no cases. 

All Sherlock had was prescripted medication and orange-yellow melodies.

**Author's Note:**

> Note: I do not have synesthesia. 
> 
> I did a bit of research and concluded that Sherlock was addicted to heroin, not cocaine, but I didn't mention it explicitly in this fic. 
> 
> I also can't play the violin.
> 
> This fic is literally just my messy brain trying to write an idea and that idea turned into something else and so on. 
> 
> If I got something wrong, it's because I am writing based on half-assed research, a jumbled brain and my own deductions.


End file.
